I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary

569 「Aren’t You Cheating or Something!?」

「Didn’t you two say you were bad with drone carriers…?」

「We are.」

「Yeah, we are.」

Elma and I nodded in unison at Serena, who was trembling like a tiny puppy.

「Then! Why! Are your scores! Better than mine!?」

「Because we’ve got more years as combat-ship pilots.」

「That’s pretty much it.」

Serena was fuming, but Elma and I were calm as could be. Sure, if we were talking command-and-control of a capital ship, I wouldn’t stand a chance against Serena, and neither would Elma. But even if the Morrigan is a drone carrier, it’s still a corvette-class mid-sized combat ship, and we were piloting solo, there is no way Elma and I would lose on score to Serena, who is basically a beginner.

「Aren’t you cheating or something!? My raw physical specs and reaction speed should be higher than yours, right!?」

「We’re not cheating. Probably.」

「If it’s just using what we’ve got to the fullest, that’s not cheating.」

To be fair, among the three of us, Serena’s physical specs are a clear cut above. Elma has received the typical enhancements a viscount’s daughter of the Empire receives, but that level doesn’t even come close to Serena—who’s a marquis’s daughter and a high-end officer on top of it. And me, with no enhancements at all? Not even comparable.

That said, Elma successfully learned psionic reinforcement in the Vuelzarus Holy Empire, so she can temporarily jack up her physical ability and reaction speed by a lot. And as for me… between the ability to slow down time when I hold my breath, and how far my training in the Third Spiritual Form has come, I’m starting to pull off little things like minor precognition. Serena’s advantage in pure physical ability is real, but is it an overwhelming gap? Honestly, not quite.

Which means the deciding factor was experience.

If anything, I think Serena is the weird one here. She should’ve been almost a complete amateur in actual handling of a mid-sized combat ship—knowledge aside—and yet she put up scores that were breathing down our necks. And she did it as the first batter, too. Elma and I scored after watching what the simulator threw at Serena first.

「Um… all three of you are getting scores we’ve never seen in our tests…」

The Hazel Starship Company operator’s voice echoed timidly through Morrigan’s cockpit.

「And we were able to collect some extremely fascinating data. Thank you very much.」

「You’re welcome. Might’ve been fun to watch, since all three of us fought differently.」

「Didn’t you two fight kind of… weirdly?」

「Mine wasn’t weird. People use what they’ve got differently, that’s all.」

Elma shrugged and breezed right past Serena’s lingering dissatisfaction. To put it bluntly, Serena used a straightforward style—she coordinated her deployed drones organically, shaving down the enemy formation from the edges with steady, orthodox pressure. Elma, on the other hand, detached every single drone, lightened the main hull, and tore through the enemy line to scramble it. Once the enemy formation was split up top-to-bottom, left-to-right, she concentrated drone fire to pick them off one by one.

It wasn’t really a question of which approach was superior. But because Serena’s operation was cautious and solid, it took longer to finish the enemies, and that hurt her score.

Me? I just kept the plasma cannon drone attached to the ship, spread the pulse laser drones around the hull, used the pulse lasers to cripple the enemy ships’ legs and weapons, and then punched out their vitals one after another with concentrated plasma cannon fire. That’s it.

Honestly, plasma cannons aren’t bad if you bring them out once in a while. The projectile speed’s a bit slow, but if you can land the hits—even from far out—you get a nice chunk of firepower. Scatterguns don’t really shine unless you’re at point-blank range, after all. Being able to keep your punch from mid-range is, in its own way, just… comfortable.

「Your style is weird, though.」

「Could you stop fighting in a way that throws away most of a drone carrier’s advantages?」

「What’re you talkin’ about!? I used every last bit of performance perfectly, didn’t I!?」

All I did was run it like a free-angle turret! Constant maximum firepower is rational, dammit!

☆★☆

After finishing the trial run, we signed the contract with Hazel Starship Company and safely completed the handover of Morrigan. I’d be lending my name for their advertising, but that is a small price to pay.

Since it was an imperial grant from His Majesty, I probably could’ve refused and strong-armed the whole thing. But they are still a business—they have to maximize profit where they can. And if we are going to be operating the Morrigan going forward, having solid support from the shipmaker is obviously better. Giving a little and keeping things friendly is just basic survival skill.

「So this is the sword workshop you go to, huh? 」

「Yes. I’ve already made an appointment, so there’s no need to worry.」

It looked expensive. More than that, the front alone radiated a no-walk-ins aura. Also… A sword workshop. In my head, I’ve been imagining a fantasy weapon shop. This is nothing like that. It looks like it sells stylish clothes.

Then again, even the gun store that handled laser guns felt more like a phone shop than anything, so… maybe this is normal here.

「It just looks… classy.」

「This is a little intimidating to walk into…」

Behind me, Edeltrud and Isolde were whispering to each other. When did you two get so friendly? Isolde’s title and status are probably higher, and as an Imperial Guard protecting the royal family, she probably has plenty of standing… but their jobs themselves are similar. Maybe that’s what they bonded over?

「No point standing around. Let’s go in.」

「It’s just a normal shop, though…?」

「To you, maybe.」

「For regular commoners like us, it’s a bit much…」

「I don’t really get it. I can tell it’s pretty, though.」

Serena tilted her head, while behind her, Tina and Wiska looked exasperated, and Neve tilted her head too. Yeah, Neve wouldn’t get it. Most of what she’s currently seeing is probably new to her, and she doesn’t have the life experience to read the vibe of a place from the doorway.

「Welcome. Thank you for coming.」

Three staff members greeted us as we filed in: a refined middle-aged man with white hair and a matching white mustache, plus a young man and a young woman. Their appearance was crisp and immaculate—less weapon shop clerk, more butler.

But… all three of them look like they can hold themselves in a fight. Like they actually know how to handle swords. I guess at a true specialist shop, it isn’t enough to just know the merchandise—you need the ability to handle it, too.

「Ha-ha-ha. Being assessed that way by Captain Hiro-dono, famed as a master swordsman, makes even me a bit nervous.」

「Sorry. Occupational hazard. I want maintenance on the sword I sent ahead, and on the pair at my waist. And I want you to pick out swords for these four, too—something suitable. Oh, and keep the fittings from being too flashy. Practical first.」

「Understood. Then, if you would please, this way.」

「Yeah. And send the bill to me.」

The refined gentleman bowed and led Isolde and the others toward the back. Then the female staff member approached me, so I handed her my usual paired swords—still in their scabbards.

I’ve never done proper, full maintenance on them before. Hopefully there aren’t any serious issues. If they find something, then it’s either repairs… or replacement.

「Woooow… swords are so pretty.」

「A blade is the soul of noble blood within the Empire. This workshop seems to have a fine selection.」

Mimi was staring at the bare blades in the display case with sparkling eyes, while Lucia narrowed hers in appreciation beside her. Lucia clearly has opinions about swords. Me, I’m the type who doesn’t care as long as it works. Right now I own four swords total, and every single one of them is loot taken off enemies.

If I told Lucia that, she’d probably have something to say… like how I should use a blade properly suited to my body, or whatever.

「Mmm… swords, huh.」

「You want one too, Elma? A short sword or dagger like what Lucia’s wearing could be useful in a grapple. If it comes to it, you can even deflect lasers.」

「I’m good. If we’re tangled up and the other person pulls it, it’s more dangerous for me. My CQC style is originally grappling style meant for nobles, so it’s not like I can’t use it… but the moment you bring a blade in, it stops being suppression and turns into killing, right?」

「Fair. And for anti-laser defense, clothes with anti-laser properties and a Personal Shield are enough anyway.」

「Exactly. Besides, I’ve only dabbled in swordwork. I can’t do beam-cutting or anything like that.」

Elma shrugged.

Really? With psionic reinforcement, I feel like you might be able to pull off laser parries now… but whatever.

「Mimi-chan, you should wear a sword too! Let’s match!」

「N-no, I… I’m not nobility, and I can’t even swing a sword…」

Lucia’s eyes were glittering as she pressed Mimi about carrying a blade. Stop. Just stop. Mimi is an exemplary imperial commoner—there is absolutely no way she could walk around with a sword on her hip.

But Lucia probably doesn’t have that sense, since to her Mimi is basically her cousin.

「Mmm… maybe we can even put the same crest on it…? If it’s Mimi-chan, it should be fine, shouldn’t it? Grandfather and Father would allow it, wouldn’t they?」

「Hey, stop it, idiot.」

That crest on her dagger is the Imperial one! If it got out that Mimi—who’s officially a commoner—was walking around with something like that, it’d turn into a whole damn incident.